Marijuana - The First Twelve Thousand Years

Hashish and the Arabs

The Arab countries are hot. Hot and dusty. But mainly hot. It is only in recent times
that a privileged few have found some respite from the heat through the miracle of air
conditioning. The rest of the people are not so fortunate. Like their forefathers, they
must endure temperatures that often soar to over 100 F. The excessive heat dictates that
the people work only in the mornings and the evenings ("Only mad dogs and Englishmen
go out in the noonday sun").

The sun also dictates the kinds of animals and plants that will survive. The camel has
adapted in a way that allows it to go without water for days. Not only can it store large
quantities of water in its body, but the camel also does not sweat. By a similar
adaptation, plants are able to survive by being able to retain their water. It is because
of this capacity to minimize evaporation that plants such as cannabis are able to live in
the parching Arabian heat.

The means by which cannabis accomplishes this amazing feat is by producing a thick,
sticky resin that coats its leaves and flowers. This protective canopy prevents
life-sustaining moisture from disappearing into the dry air.

But this thick stocky resin is not an ordinary goo. It is the stuff that dreams are
made of, the stuff that holds time suspended in limbo, the stuff that makes men forgetful,
makes them both sad and deliriously happy, makes them ravenously hungry or completely
disinterested in food. It is a god to some and a devil to others. It is all of these
things and more. This resin, this shield against the sun, this sticky goo... hashish.

The Discovery of Hashish

Little is known of the first Arab who discovered the marvellous properties of hashish.
There is no shortage of legends, however, to fill in the dark, long-forgotten memories of
that eventful moment. One of the most colorful of these stories tells how Haydar, the
Persian founder of a religious order of Sufis, discovered hashish in A.D. 1155.[1]

According to the legend, Haydar was an ascetic monk who lived a life of rigid privation
and self-chastisement in a monastery which he built in the mountains of Persia. For ten
years he lived in this distant retreat, never leaving it for even a brief moment, seeing
no one except his disciples.

One hot summer day, however, Haydar fell into a state of depression and, contrary to
his custom of never venturing out of his monastery, he wandered off into the fields to be
alone. When he returned, his disciples, who had become alarmed at his unusual absence,
noted a strange air of happiness and whimsy in his demeanour. Not only that, the hitherto
reclusive monk even allowed them to enter his personal chambers, something he had never
done before.

Astounded by this dramatic change in their master's character, his disciples eagerly
questioned the monk about what it was that had put him into this frame of mind. Haydar
responded to their curiosity with amusement and proceeded to tell them how he had been
wandering in the fields and had noticed that of all the plants near the monastery, only
one had not been standing motionless in the oppressive heat of the day. Unlike its torpid
and inanimate neighbors, this unusual plant seemed to dance joyfully in the sun's warmth.
Overwhelmed by curiosity, Haydar picked a few of its leaves and ate them to see what they
would taste like. The result was the euphoric state his disciples now observed in him.

Upon hearing of this wonderful plant and desirous of sharing their master's pleasure,
Haydar's pupils entreated him to show them this strange plant so that they too could
partake of its marvellous virtues. Haydar agreed, but not before he made them promise
under oath that they would not reveal the secret of the plant to anyone but the Sufis (the
poor). So it was, according to legend, that the Sufis came to know the pleasures and
contentment of hashish.

After his discovery, Haydar lived another ten years, allegedly subsisting on cannabis
leaves. Shortly before his death in A.D. 1221, he asked that cannabis leaves be sown
around his tomb so that his spirit might walk in the shade of the plant that had given him
such pleasure during his lifetime.

Such is the legend of Haydar and his discovery of the powers of hashish. It is a simple
story, amusing and entertaining, and, of course, apocryphal.

The Smell of Death

Although sometimes called the "wine of Haydar", hashish was known to the
Arabs long before its alleged discovery by the ascetic monk. In the tenth century A.D., an
Arab physician, Ibn Wahshiyah, wrote of it in his book On Poisons, claiming that
the odor of hashish was lethal:

If it reaches the nose, a violent tickle occurs in the nose, then in the face. The face
and eyes are affected by an extreme and intense burning; one does not see anything and
cannot say what one wishes. One swoons, then recovers, then swoons again and recovers
again. One goes on this way until he dies. A violent anxiety and fainting occurs until one
succumbs, after a day, a day and a half, or more. If it is protracted, it may take two
days. For these aromatics, there is no remedy. But if God wills to save him, he may be
spared from death by the continuance of vomiting or by another natural reaction.[2]

While Ibn Wahshiyah was more ignorant than knowledgeable of the properties of hashish,
he was at least superficially familiar with some of its effects. In general, however, Arab
physicians before and after Ibn Wahshiyah had very little to say about the medicinal
virtues of cannabis and most of what they did say was taken from Galen.

The Hippies of the Arab World

The apocryphal oath by which Haydar entrusted his disciples not to reveal the secret of
hashish to anyone but the Sufis underlies the close association between the drug and the
Sufi movement in the Arab community.

The origin of the name Sufi is connected with the wearing of undyed garments made from
wool (suf) rather than cotton. Such clothing was originally worn as a symbol of
personal penitence, but was condemned by religious leaders because it suggested that such
people were dressing in imitation of Jesus rather than Mohammed, who wore cotton.

The Sufis were the hippies of the Arab world. Their origins were in Persia where they
began as a group of ascetics who banded together to discuss religious topics and to recite
the Koran aloud. Some of these bands eventually formed fraternities and established
monasteries such as those founded by Haydar.

Although the original leaders of the movement were orthodox in their religious
principles, their successors and the new members who were drawn to the movement adopted a
more mystical approach toward religion which was contrary to Islamic orthodoxy.
Furthermore, since most of the new devotees came from the lower and middle classes, the
socio-political attitudes of this new sect were increasingly regarded with distrust and
suspicion by the upper classes and by the authorities.

Religious leaders were unfavorably inclined toward them because the mystical philosophy
of the Sufis taught that divine truth and communion with God cannot be imparted to others.
Instead, it had to be experienced directly. To the Sufis, the mind was simply incapable of
articulating such understanding; it had to be acquired by oneself through experience.

One of the ways the Sufis encouraged the attainment of these spiritual insights was
through the arousal of ecstatic states. There were several different ways of achieving
this condition, but the one most commonly resorted to was through intoxication by means of
drugs such as hashish. It was because of their frequent usage of hashish that the Sufis
were credited both with the dissemination of the drug and with the downfall of Islamic
society. For the Sufis, however, hashish was merely a means of stimulating mystical
consciousness and appreciation of the nature of Allah. To the Sufi, a Moslem critic wrote,
eating hashish is "an act of worship".

Sufism was much more than a heretical religious movement. It represented a
counterculture within the Arab community in the same way that the hippies of the 1960's
represented an ideological and behavioral counterculture within American society. Both
were peopled by "drop-outs" who rejected the dominant economic system in favor
of communal living and sharing of material goods. Both had their symbols. For the hippies,
it was long hair and beads; for the Sufi, garments made of wool.

Since neither the hippie nor the Sufi had any interest in advancing himself in society
or in economic gain, both were looked down upon by the Establishment in their respective
eras as being lazy and worthless. In many cases, their behavior was attributed to the
effects of drugs.

More than intriguing, the dominant drug in both countercultures was made from cannabis.
For the hippie, it was marijuana; for the Sufi, hashish.

Since the drugs were similar, it is not surprising that many of the accusations
levelled at cannabis have a familiar ring. Both marijuana and hashish were accused of
sapping the user's energy, thereby robbing him of his willingness to work. This
"amotivational syndrome", as it is presently called, was regarded as a threat to
the dominant culture since it undermined the work ethic.

Insanity was another evil attributed to chronic use of these drugs. Hashish drove men
to madness, its Arab critics declared, by drying up the moistures in the lower parts of
the body. This resulted in vapors rising to the brain, thereby causing the mind to weaken
and be destroyed. Many critics contended that hashish produced physical dependence. As a
result of this dependence, the hashish addict spent all his time and efforts looking for
more hashish.[3]

A second feature common to both the hippies and the Sufis was their physical withdrawal
from the dominant culture. The country commune of the hippie and the remote monastery
started by Haydar were both created to remove each group from the hostility of the
Establishment. In these retreats, the devotees could follow their own way of life without
incurring the wrath of those who disagreed with their ideas. These communes were also
similar in their devotion to spiritual leaders who were looked up to as fountainheads of
enlightenment. Timothy Leary and Haydar both enjoyed the respect and admiration of their
followers. Both also recommended drugs as a means of expanding consciousness. They were
heroes to the counterculture, false prophets to nonbelievers.

The hippie and Sufi movements were also similar in their attitudes toward family and
contemporary sexual morality. Both went to extremes, but in this case they went to
opposite extremes. The hippies were accused of being promiscuous; the Sufis, of being
effeminate and homosexual. In both cases, however, cannabis was blamed for their sexual
deviations. Marijuana, the critics of the twentieth century declared, caused hippies to
become sex-crazed. Hashish, on the other hand, was accused of diminishing the libido,
causing men to turn from women to other men.

Further parallels between the hippies and the Sufis could be drawn, the point being
that despite the 1000-year gulf between them, the two movements resembled one another in
more ways than they differed. But perhaps the most interesting parallel of all is the
answers the Sufis and the hippies gave in response to those who criticized their use of
cannabis.

Both ardently maintained that cannabis gave them otherwise unattainable insights into
themselves. It allowed them to see new and different meanings in what appeared to be
otherwise trivial experiences. It made them feel more witty and gave them deeper
understanding. It caused them to see beautiful colors and designs in what seemed
commonplace to others. It increased their pleasure in music. It gave happiness, and
reduced anxiety and worry.[4]

The one comparison that breaks the link between the Sufis and the hippies is social
background. In contrast to the hippies, many of whom came from well-to-do middle-class
families, most Sufis were form the lower classes. One of the main reasons the Sufis chose
hashish over other intoxicants like alcohol was that hashish was cheap. Although
proscribed in the Koran, wine was always available to those who could afford it.
But wine was a luxury, the intoxicant of the rich; hashish was all the poor could afford.

Their heretical religious stance and their refusal to conform to the standards of Arab
society combined to make the Sufis pariahs in the Arab world. And because hashish was so
much a part of the Sufi's everyday life, it came to be looked upon as the cause of their
unholy, contemptible, and disgusting behavior. By eliminating hashish, the Arab world felt
it could rid itself of a loathsome drug habit that encouraged defiance, insubordination,
and a general disregard for the status quo. While the efforts to eliminate hashish were
often quite dramatic, all attempts proved futile. Every society seems to have evolved its
own escape route from reality. For the Sufis, that escape route took the form of hashish.

The Gardens of Cafour

Although hashish was well known in the eastern Arab countries by the eleventh century
A.D., it was not until the middle of the thirteenth century that it was introduced into
Egypt. For this information, we are indebted to a Moslem botanist named Ibn al-Baytar (d.
A.D. 1248).

Ibn al-Baytar was born in Malaga in Spain, apparently the son of wealthy parents for he
was able to afford to travel to far-off lands. Generally, the early sightseers in the Arab
world left home to make the honored pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
This was a religious duty required of every Moslem, but the farther away from these holy
shrines, the more difficult was such an undertaking. For those who could afford the
pilgrimage, however, the trip offered a wonderful opportunity to visit other countries and
meet new people.

In the course of his journey, Ibn al-Baytar passed through Egypt where for the first
time he observed hashish being eaten. The main users of the drug, he noted, were the
Sufis.

According to Ibn al-Baytar, the Sufis had a special way of preparing their hashish.
First they baked the leaves until they were dry. Then, they rubbed them between their
hands to form a paste, rolled it into a ball, and swallowed it like a pill. Others dried
the leaves only slightly, toasted and husked them, mixed them with sesame and sugar, and
chewed them like gum.

The sight of these people and their unconventional clothes and behavior unsettled Ibn
al-Baytar, and he voiced his opinion in his diary. "People [i.e. the Sufis] who use
it [hashish] habitually have proved its pernicious effect," he writes, for "it
enfeebles their minds by carrying to them maniac affections, sometimes it even causes
death." Ibn al-Baytar then adds: "I recall having seen a time when men of the
vilest class alone dared to eat it, still they did not like the name takers of hashish
applied to them."[5] This latter comment reflects the attitude of the upper-class
Moslem's opinion of the Sufis and their use of hashish. It also shows, however, that by
the twelfth century, the label "hashish user" had become so derogatory that even
the Sufis were upset at being so taunted.

One of the favorite gathering places for hashish users in Egypt was the "gardens
" of Cafour in Cairo. "The green plant which grows in the garden of Cafour
replaces in our hearts the effects of old and noble wine," states a poem written in
tribute to the renowned gathering place of hashish connoisseurs. Another poem coos:
"Give me this green plant from the garden of Cafour, this plant which surpasses wine
itself in the number of people it enslaves."

The authorities felt differently. Unwilling to tolerate the rabble collecting in the
city's garden spot, the governor of Cairo ordered out the troops. In A.D. 1253, all the
cannabis plants growing in the area were chopped, gathered, and hurled onto a massive pyre
the flames of which could be seen for miles around. "A just punishment of God,"
was the pronouncement of the more pious citizens of Cairo, as they watched the fire
destroy the plants.

With Cafour gone, hashish devotees had to go elsewhere to obtain their heady rations.
Their inconvenience was only temporary. Seeing an opportunity to make some easy money, the
farmers on the outskirts of Cairo began sowing cannabis seeds.

At first this was a legitimate enterprise, since these farmers paid a tax for the
privilege. But in A.D. 1324, the new governor decided that the situation had once more
gotten out of hand. Troops were summoned into action. Every day for an entire month, the
army foraged into the countryside on search-and-destroy missions; the enemy - hashish
plants.

After this show of force, the fields remained barren of cannabis for a few months.
Cultivation then resumed as before. There was just too much money to be made to give up
production permanently. To protect themselves from renewed interference, growers and
merchants offered bribes and it was business as usual.

But in A.D. 1378 another order came down from the office of the governor to destroy the
cannabis fields. This time the farmers decided to resist. Not one to back down, the
governor dispatched Egypt's version of a S.W.A.T. team against the hashish farmers. But
the farmers were determined to preserve their lucrative business, and eventually the
troops backed off and instead of fighting, decided to place the area under siege, hoping
to starve the farmers into submission.

The people held out for several months, but the outcome was never in doubt. When the
soldiers finally broke through the defences and poured into the valley there was no
alternative but to capitulate. The resistance crushed, the soldiers placed the valley
under martial law. Fields were set ablaze. Towns were either razed to the ground or placed
under strict surveillance. Local cafes which had previously been known as centers for the
hashish trade were closed. Proprietors of these businesses were hunted down and killed.
Patrons of these shops who were known to the authorities had a different fate in store for
them. All known hashish addicts were assembled in the town square, and in full view of all
the townspeople, the soldiers wrenched out their teeth.[6]

By A.D. 1393, however, the hashish business was once again a thriving enterprise, a
situation which prompted the Egyptian historian Maqrizi, who was a contemporary, to write:
"as a consequence [of hashish use], general corruption of sentiments and manners
ensued, modesty disappeared, every base and evil passion was openly indulged in, and
nobility of external form alone remained in these infatuated beings."[7] But deplore
the situation though Maqrizi might, hashish had become too much a part of the Arab way of
life for it to be forsaken, whatever the criticisms and pressures against it.

The Diary from Prison

They came from all parts of Genoa in Italy to listen to these fantastic tales of
far-off lands, of strange customs and wealth beyond the imagination. They came not to the
theater, or the palace, but the dungeon.

From the damp, dimly lit underground prison, a Venetian merchant was dictating to a
copyist the details of a fascinating journey he had just completed, a journey that had
taken him from Venice to the court of the Kublai Khan, great emperor of China. He had been
gone twenty-five years and had travelled thousands of miles. Now he could only travel the
length of his cell.

At first the jailers and townspeople laughed. This Venetian must think that the
inhabitants of Genoa were mad. Who could believe these incredible stories of cannibals,
shark charmers, and houses built of gold and silver? But the laughter soon gave way to a
hushed awe as the storyteller repeatedly checked his notes to make sure that his facts
were accurate. His sincerity, if not his sanity, could not be doubted.

The storyteller was a merchant named Marco Polo. The year was A.D. 1297. Venice and
Genoa were at war. Polo had been taken prisoner during a sea battle on his return from the
Far East. Now, as he awaited his fate, he was recording memories of the eventful
expedition he had just completed. Whatever his fate, he would leave behind a record of all
the marvellous things he had seen and heard.

Even after his release from prison and the publication of his travel record, few people
were willing to believe Polo sane. Nevertheless, the book was one of the most fascinating
adventure stories of the day and it was widely copied and circulated. Two centuries later,
it was to excite the imagination of an Italian visionary named Christopher Columbus and
made him dream of a similar journey to these far-off lands. Only instead of going
overland, he would go by sea, sailing westward around the world.

Columbus was not the only person to be influenced by Marco Polo's travelogue. Seven
centuries after Polo's death, the Congress of the United States and the American public
were once again treated to an excerpt from Marco Polo's writings. It was an excerpt that
was widely cited in the 1920s and 1930s as proof that hashish was a drug that incited
fanaticism, lust, and uncontrollable violence. The irony of this presentation was that
Marco Polo himself had never even heard of hashish.

Marco Polo's Version of Paradise

As Marco Polo was passing through northern Persia on his way to China, the people of
the area told him an amazing story about a legendary ruler known as the "Old Man of
the Mountains" and his ruthless band of cutthroats knows as the Assassins. For two
centuries, beginning around A.D. 1050, these daggermen had struck fear into the hearts of
even the most powerful Arab leaders. It was only in A.D. 1256 that their stranglehold over
the Middle East was finally ended at the hands of the Mongols.

According to Marco Polo's diary,[8] the terrorist leader kept his minions blindly loyal
to his will by brainwashing them; should they die in his service, they would be certain to
enter Paradise. To convince sceptics of his ability to make good such a promise, he gave
each potential candidate a foreshadowing of what lay in store for him.

According to the legend, he accomplished this ploy through a beautiful garden landscape
in his mountain stronghold of Alumut, the "Eagle's Nest". The garden was filled
with exotic flowers and fountains brimming with milk and honey. Sensuous girls strolled
this oasis ready to grant even the slightest wish. Everything was designed for the
immediate gratification of any whim. But before he could enter this magnificent garden
spot, the potential convert was required to partake of a powerful drug which rendered him
unconscious. In this comatose state he was carried into the garden. When he awoke, he
could gratify himself to his heart's content.

After being allowed to savor "Paradise", the recruit was drugged once again
and brought before the "Old Man". When he awoke, the novice begged to be
readmitted. The "Old Man" promised to do so, provided his orders were followed
meticulously and without question.

Such was the story told by Marco Polo. Although a mere fantasy with little truth to it
at all, there was an "Old Man of the Mountains", and there was a group of
fanatics called the Assassins who were completely devoted to him. What, then, was the
truth? Before answering this question, there are a number of points worth noting about
Marco Polo's account, the most important of which is the mysterious potion referred to by
the explorer.

The first point is that the potion is never identified. Marco Polo makes no mention of
hashish at all, and yet most retellings of this story always identify it as hashish.

Second, whatever the drug, it was not given to anyone who was sent out on a mission.
The potion was given only before entry into the garden and before being taken out.

Third, the mysterious potion was soporific. It put its users to sleep. There is no
mention of delirium or excitement connected with the drug.

The Origins of the Assassins

The roots of the fraternity of Assassins go back to A.D. 632, the year in which the
prophet Mohammed died without leaving any designated heir. The religion of Islam, which
Mohammed founded, began in the year A.D. 622, following the entry of the prophet into the
city of Medina. It was the culmination of a meteoric career that saw a penniless unknown
emerge to forge a religion that would unite a disorganized nation of nomads into one of
the greatest empires of the world.

Born some time between A.D. 570 and 580, Mohammed became an orphan at a very early age
and was raised in the city of Mecca by his grandfather. Although born into poverty, he
became wealthy and respectable by marrying the widow of a rich merchant and taking over
his business.

It was not until he was about forty years old that Mohammed began to feel the
proverbial "call to religion". Dissatisfied with the tribal religions and
idolatry of his fellow Arabs, and unable to accept either Judaism or Christianity, he
began to preach against the evils of the old Arab religion and announced the coming of a
new era. While he initially had no idea that he was beginning a new religion, he did
succeed in converting a number of people to his way of thinking. Foremost among these new
converts were his wife and his cousin Ali, who was later to become Mohammed's successor.

The more he criticized the existing religion, the more his activities came to the
attention of the authorities, who looked with disfavor upon this challenge to their own
position. Persecuted, Mohammed and his tiny band of converts fled to Abyssinia. From this
relatively safe haven, Mohammed continued to preach his message, and the more he spoke,
the more the people listened. When at last he felt that he had a strong enough following,
Mohammed brought his entire religion to Medina in present-day Saudi Arabia, an event
celebrated today as the starting point in the Arab calendar. From that time on, the
religion became so widely accepted that Mohammed was able to overcome all opposition.

The Blood Feud

The religion of Islam which Mohammed founded was based on the recognition of the one
god, Allah, and his prophet Mohammed. When Mohammed died in A.D. 632, the new religion
faced the difficult problem of choosing a successor (caliph). Among those nominated was
Ali, cousin to the prophet and one of his first converts. Also in Ali's favor was the fact
that he was the husband of Fatima, Mohammed's only surviving daughter.

But Ali was not chosen. Instead, the office was given to an elderly man whom Mohammed
had once asked to lead the daily prayers. This first caliph did not live very long,
however, and a new successor had to be chosen. Again Ali was skipped over. Two more
caliphs were elected before Ali was finally chosen in A.D. 656. Five years later he too
was dead, the victim of a feud between Arab factions that supported him as caliph and
those who refused to accept his appointment.

The bloodletting associated with the succession issue eventually split Islam into two
main sects, the Sunnis and the Shiites. The Sunnis saw themselves as the upholders of
orthodoxy in Islam. They contended that the people had a right to elect whomever they
wished to be caliph. The Shiites, on the other hand, insisted that the only legitimate
successors were those in whom the blood of the Prophet himself flowed. This meant Ali and
his descendants.

Although the differences between the two parties appeared to rest on the problem of the
rightful heir to the office of caliph, the animosities were much deeper and involved basic
differences in racial background and ancient traditions. Racially, the Shiites were mainly
Persians of Aryan ancestry. It was their custom, based on a tradition that reached back to
the time of the great Persian empire, to be governed by a hereditary monarchy. The Sunnis,
who represented the majority of Arabs, were Semitic in origin. Their custom was to elect
leaders on the basis of personal merit., not blood line.

Since the Sunnis far outnumbered the Shiites, they exerted the dominant influence in
Islam. The Shiites, however, refused to accept the caliphs chosen by the Sunnis, and
instead pledged their allegiance to the family of the Prophet. These descendants were
treated as divinely inspired and divinely appointed interpreters of the faith. Obedience
to their commands, whatever these might be, was regarded as an integral part of the
religion of Islam.

Ali's descendants were many in number, however, and while the Shiites agreed on the
fundamental principle of hereditary succession, they were often unable to agree on who
that legitimate successor ought to be. This internal disagreement resulted in a schism
within the Shiite party which eventually led to the creation of the Ismaili sect, the
party to which the Assassins belonged.

A House Divided against Itself

The precipitating event in the Shiite schism occurred during the reign of Caliph
Jafar-i-Sadiq. According to Shiite custom, the eldest son succeeded his father to the
office of caliph. However, one day Jafar-i-Sadiq discovered his eldest son, Ismail,
drinking some wine, an act expressly forbidden by the Koran, the holy book of
Islam. Outraged at this abomination, the caliph announced that his eldest son was unfit to
serve as his successor and he designated his younger son, Musa, for the job.

While most Shiites accepted the nomination, a small group remained loyal to Ismail,
claiming that the succession belonged to the eldest son. In response to the accusation
that Ismail had violated the proscription against drinking alcohol, these supporters
pointed out that the successor-designate was divine and without sin. If he drank wine, it
was to teach his followers that the statements in the Koran against drinking
alcohol were to be taken figuratively, not literally. Wine, they argued, was a symbol for
pride and vanity. It was these traits of character that the Koran forbade, not the
juice of the grape.

But Ismail had few followers compared to the majority of the Shiites who recognised
Musa as leader. After his death, Ismail's supporters went underground and continued in
relative obscurity while the faithful waited for a new leader to reveal himself and
restore the House of Ali to its rightful heir. Their patience was finally rewarded in the
tenth century when the Fatamids, a dynasty loyal to the Ismaili doctrine, seized the
throne of Egypt. Soon after their accession to power, they began sending out missionaries
throughout the Arab world to make converts to Ismaili orthodoxy. One of the converts
eventually won over to their side was a young Persian named Hasan-ibn-Sabah, who was to
become known to his enemies as the "Old Man of the Mountains".

The Old Man of the Mountains

The two men strolled along the walls of the mountain fortress silhouetted against the
clear Persian sky. The year was A.D. 1092. One of the men was a personal envoy of the
sultan. The host was Hasan-ibn-Sabah, the "Old Man of the Mountains". The envoy
had come to demand the surrender of the fortress. There was no use in resisting, he
attested, for the sultan had more than enough soldiers to capture the garrison. Surrender
and he and his men would be treated with compassion; resist and they would meet Allah long
before their time.

The ruler of the mountain stronghold listened to the offer in silence. When the envoy
finished his message, Hasan pointed to a guard standing watch high atop a lookout post.
The envoy watched as his host signalled to the guard and blinked in disbelief as the man
saluted and threw himself from his post down into the chasm a thousand feet below. There
were 70,000 more like him., Hasan told the startled envoy, all prepared to lay down their
lives at his slightest bidding. Were the sultan's minions any match for these devoted
followers? Shaken, the envoy took leave of his host wondering if anyone would believe what
he had just witnessed.

Apparently the sultan did not believe, for he sent his armies against Hasan. It was a
mistake. Soon after the abortive attack he was murdered, poisoned by one of Hasan's
henchmen.

Who was this incredible leader for whom men were prepared to kill themselves and others
at a mere wave of a hand? Although villainized by his enemies, there is no question that
Hasan-ibn-Sabah was a man of exceptional abilities and self-discipline. He was
intelligent, ambitious, and ruthless, a political opportunist who believed that the ends
justified the means. He was a man totally lacking in compassion. He demanded blind
obedience and was prepared to sacrifice those who loyally served him without giving their
deaths a second thought.

Born in A.D. 1050, Hasan was the son of a Shiite merchant who withdrew from society to
a monastery and sent his son to an orthodox Moslem school. Two of Hasan's classmates were
also destined for prominence in the Arab world. The first was Nizam-al-Mulk, prime
minister to two sultans of the Arab empire, and the second was Omar Khayyam, tent maker,
astronomer, and unparalleled poet of the Arab world.

One of the reasons his father had sent Hasan to this particular school was the widely
held belief that all who studied there would eventually attain great importance. The
students were also aware of this belief, and one day Nizam, Omar, and Hasan made a pact
that whosoever of them would fulfil the prediction first would do his utmost to help the
other two.

The earliest of the three to advance his career was Nizam-al-Mulk who rose to a high
position in the court of the sultan. As he had promised he tried to help his friends. When
Omar Khayyam came to him for support, Nizam obtained a pension for the poet generous
enough for him not to be burdened with earning a living, and the poet was able to compose
his famous Rubaiyat poems without distraction.

Next, Hasan presented himself at court. Nizam cordially received his other friend and
got him an interview with the sultan, who took an immediate liking to him and made Hasan
his chamberlain. But Hasan was overly ambitious. And an ingrate. As soon as he had his
foot in the palace door, he tried to undermine Nizam in the sultan's eyes and install
himself in his erstwhile friend's place.

Hasan thought he saw his opportunity when the sultan asked Nizam to draw up a record of
all the income and expenses of the empire. Asked how long such an undertaking would
require, Nizam estimated a time no less than a year. At this point Hasan jumped in and
challenged that he could do it in forty days. The sultan was greatly pleased at such a
possibility and gave him the job instead.

True to his word, Hasan had the accounts ready within the designated period. But Nizam
was not one to be brushed aside so easily. By some trick he managed to alter the records,
and when Hasan presented the accounts to the sultan they were so distorted that he was
banished from the court for his impertinence. Although he protested his innocence, Hasan
could not explain how his records had been doctored since they were written in his own
script.

Humiliated but not discouraged, Hasan next journeyed to Egypt where he allied himself
with the Fatamids and was introduced into the secret doctrines of the Ismaili sect.

If Hasan had been searching for some way to gain power, Egypt was a well-chosen
starting place. The Fatamids had founded a school in which they trained recruits in the
Ismaili doctrine and in the art of assassination. The techniques he would learn at this
school subsequently proved invaluable to Hasan.

The Egyptian rulers welcomed Hasan to their court when they learned of his arrival. A
recent member of the sultan's personal retinue could bring only prestige to the Fatamid
court. But Hasan once again involved himself in some chicanery at court and he was
arrested and thrown into jail. But the moment he entered the prison, a minaret broke in
two and crashed to the earth. The event was seen as a sign that Hasan was no ordinary man.
Apprised of the coincidence, the Egyptian ruler immediately released Hasan and sent him
away laden with gifts.

Hasan next made his way to Syria by boat. It was aboard this ship that he made his
first two converts. These conversions renewed his confidence in himself, and immediately
upon disembarking, he began to spread his message, which became known as the "New
Propaganda".

Asserting that Islam and the Ismailis had grown decadent, Hasan promised to bring both
back on a more righteous course, true to Allah's ways. There would have to be sacrifices,
however. The Ismailis would have to renounce all worldly pleasures. They would have to rid
themselves of all those things that other men found pleasurable. Since the Ismailis at
that time were a poor, oppressed, discontented people seeking some meaning in a hapless
existence, Hasan's injunctions entailed little self-denial on their part.

Hasan himself was no hypocrite. An ascetic for most of his life, years later he
expelled one of his followers from the fold for flute playing, and executed his own son
for a minor frivolity. He set the example, and he expected his disciples to follow it.

To those who asked how Allah's ways were to be made known to the Ismailis, Hasan
answered that a true understanding of that divine plan was not possible for the ordinary
mind to comprehend. It was only possible for a divinely appointed representative to
understand and make known Allah's ways. Mohammed had been such an intermediary. He, Hasan,
was another such representative.

Hasan repeatedly emphasized that Allah's ways were too profound to comprehend through
reason. Utilizing techniques he had learned in Egypt, Hasan created doubt in the minds of
his audiences concerning orthodox Islamic teaching. The more confusion he was able to sow,
the more dependent on him would his followers become, since he was the only source of
wisdom. Only through faith and blind obedience could they be assured of obtaining
salvation.

Once he had convinced a small number of Ismailis that he alone comprehended Allah's
ways, Hasan instructed them on how to win over new members. Each convert thus in turn
became a proselytizer.

Captivated by Hasan's dynamic personality, his utter confidence in himself, his
self-assurance, his conviction that Islam had grown decadent and that salvation could only
come through him, converts began pledging their lives in increasing numbers, often leaving
behind their wives and children to make their way without husband and father.

Hasan's next move was to order his men to infiltrate the mountain fortress of Alamut,
the "Eagle's Nest", and to make converts of the soldiers stationed there. Then,
after carefully laying some preliminary plans, Hasan approached the commander of the
garrison and offered him 3000 pieces of gold for all the land under his control that could
be covered by the hide of an ox. The commander thought Hasan mad to make such an offer,
but who was he to look Allah's gift horse in the mouth? A wide grin appeared on his face
as the last gold piece was counted out and handed over to him. But the grin quickly
disappeared as he watched Hasan cut the hide into thin strips. The bargain was off, he
shouted, as he watched Hasan sew the strips together and then march around the fortress.

However, Hasan, was prepared for such a contingency. After surrounding the fortress
with the ox hide, he produced an order signed by a high-ranking government official, a
secret convert to the "New Propoganda", which ordered the commander to honor the
terms of the bargain. The commander dutifully obeyed and marched out, leaving Hasan in
possession of an impressive stronghold. The year was A.D. 1090.

Immediately upon moving into Alamut, Hasan inaugurated a series of building measures to
strengthen the fortification. Canals were dug to carry water to the fortress, the fields
that surrounded it were irrigated, fruit trees were planted, and storerooms were erected.

The point of these improvements was lost on Hasan's enemies who, in later generations,
mistakenly assumed that he was constructing a sort of Paradise to entice new followers to
his ranks. These mistaken stories were eventually recorded by European travellers such as
Marco Polo, and through them, Hasan's fortress became known to Western readers as a
palatial mansion filled with lush and exotic plants and populated with beautiful and
sensuous women.

There were other fantastic stories told about the ruses Hasan used to win over new
converts. According to one legend, Hasan had a hole dug deep enough for a man to stand in
with only his head above the ground. The hole was then filled in and a tray was fitted
around his neck. To increase the effect, fresh blood was splashed around the
"severed" neck.

Potential candidates were then brought into the room and, after fixing each man with
his steely gaze, Hasan announced that the head would speak to them of the marvellous life
that awaited them in the other world if they were to obey his commands without question.
At this point, the confederate opened his eyes and began to tell them of the Paradise his
soul had recently been admitted to as a result of serving Hasan.

The scene made a profound impression on all those who witnessed it, and they went away
pledging their lives to Hasan. Shortly after they left the room, the confederate was
actually decapitated and his head was prominently displayed so that no one would ever have
second thoughts about having been duped. In this story, however, there is no mention of
any drug being administered to either the initiates or the unfortunate victim.

The "Devoted Ones"

With Alamut as his base of operations, Hasan began to organize his followers into
various grades or degrees of office. At the top he naturally placed himself, giving his
position the title of grand master. Next came the grand priors, the overseers, who
directed the activities of the sect and apprised Hasan of all important developments.
Below them came the dais, or missionaries, who disseminated the "propoganda" of
the sect throughout the Middle East. The fourth and fifth orders made up the bulk of
members of the sect. They admitted their allegiance to the grand master and supported the
movement in various ways, usually through donations. The sixth group was called the
fidais, the "devoted ones". These were the enforcers. It was their job to carry
out the orders of their superiors.

Once a fidai received his orders, he was committed to only one purpose - carrying out
those instructions, no matter what the obstacles or the consequences to his own life. He
would persevere for months, waiting for the right moment to strike. No matter that he
would be captured and killed on the spot. The only thing that mattered was the mission. To
die in the performance of his duty was a privilege and a ticket to Paradise. This
disregard for death made the Assassins the most feared gang of cutthroats in the Middle
East.

Arab sultans, princes, and prime ministers as well as many eminent Crusaders all fell
victim to these daggermen. With the assassination of Conrad, marquis of Monteferrat,
however, the reputation of the "Old Man of the Mountains" spread far beyond the
Middle East to the far reaches of Western Europe. The fidai responsible for the murder
spent six months disguised as a monk in the camp of the Crusaders, waiting for just the
right opportunity. Finally, the moment came and, in full view of the marquis' attendants,
the assassin plunged his dagger into Conrad's body.

Once their reputation had spread throughout the Middle East, it was no longer necessary
for the Assassins to liquidate their enemies. Often, all that was required was a threat.
On one occasion, for example, Saladin, one of the most able Arab generals of that era,
decided that the Assassins had to be put in their place and he mounted a campaign to take
the Alamut fortress. Shortly before the siege, however, he awoke one night to find a
dagger stuck in the ground beside him. Attached to the knife was a curt message advising
him to reconsider. Saladin wisely changed his mind and directed his efforts elsewhere.

How was it that Hasan was able to enlist such a devoted band of selfless followers who
were more than willing to lay down their lives at his bidding?

According to Marco Polo, Hasan kept his men blindly loyal to his will by convincing
them that should they die in his service, they would be certain to enter Paradise.

This theme appears also in the story of the "severed" head and in an anecdote
related by an emissary to the emperor Frederick Barbarossa in A.D. 1175. According to this
report,

[Hasan had] many of the sons and daughters brought up from early childhood... These
young men are taught by their teachers from their earliest youth to their full manhood,
that they must obey the lord of their land in all his words and commands; and that if they
do so, he, who has power over all living gods, will give them the joys of Paradise... When
they are in the presence of the Prince, he asks them if they are willing to obey his
commands, so that he may bestow Paradise upon them... They throw themselves at his feet
and reply with fervor that they will obey him... Thereupon the Prince gives each one of
them a golden dagger and sends them out to kill whichever prince he has marked down.[9]

In all the stories about Hasan's ability to instil blind loyalty in his followers, the
one common element is the promise of entering Paradise in return for serving the grand
master. Only in Marco Polo's account is there any mention of a drug.

What's in a Name?

One of the most puzzling questions about the Assassins is how they got their name. The
members of the sect never referred to themselves as such. They called each other fidais,
"devoted ones". Only their enemies called them Assassins.

In a report to Frederick Barbarossa, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, they are called
Heyssessini. William, Archbishop of Tyre, wrote that "both our people and the
Saracens called them Assissini," but, he adds, "we do not know the origin of the
name."[10]

By the thirteenth century, however, the word "assassin" and its variants were
being used in Europe in the sense of a paid professional killer. The word was derived from
the name of the sect, but no one suggested that they got that name because of their usage
of hashish, although a twelfth-century friar, Abbot Arnold of Lubeck, did state that the
Assassins used hashish: "hemp raises them to a state of ecstasy or falling, or
intoxicates them. Their sorcerers draw near and exhibit to the sleepers, phantasms,
pleasures and amusement. Then they promise that these delights will become perpetual if
the orders given them are executed with the daggers provided."[11]

Travel books such as the seventeenth-century Purchas His Pilgrimis repeated
Marco Polo's story about a mysterious potion but made no mention of hashish. Another
writer of that era, Denis Lebey de Batilly, wrote only that the name given to the sect by
its enemies was Arabic for hired killer.

Various other explanations were subsequently proposed, among them that the name was
derived from "asas", a word meaning foundation, which was applied to the
religious leaders of Islam; that assassin was derived from the Arabic word hassas,
which, among other things, meant "to kill"; or that the name was applied to the
followers of Hasan.

The Tale of the Hashish Eater

Between A.D. 1000 and 1700, a collection of stories from the Arab world came into being
which today are known as The Thousand and One Nights. Although loosely joined, the
thread that holds the collection together is the delightful fantasy of how a wily young
harem girl enchanted the sultan and saved her life. It was through these stories that most
Europeans first learned of hashish.

According to the storyline, the sultan Shahriyar had ordained that each of his future
wives was to be put to the death the morning after consummating their marriage nuptials.
This ritual went on through several wives until Scheherazade, the daughter of the grand
vizier, tricked the sultan into revoking this postamatory rite.

The ruse she used consisted of telling the sultan an amusing story on the night of
their marriage and then breaking it off in the middle, promising to finish it the next
night. But each night she also started a new story, breaking that one off as well so that
it would have to be ended the next night. In this way she succeeded in delaying her
execution for a thousand and one nights, until at last the sultan became so enamored of
this spinner of tales that he fell in love with her and decided to cancel his former
edict.

One of the stories Scheherazade amused the sultan with was called "The Tale of the
Hashish Eater", and in it she recounted the saga of a hashish user who had been
reduced to poverty as a result of wasting his savings on his drug and on women. Yet by
means of his cherished drug, he was able to escape into a dream world where he was no
longer a beggar but a handsome and prosperous lover.

One day this pauper took some hashish in a public bath and dropped off into a dream in
which he was transported into an enchanting room filled with beautiful flowers and the
smell of exotic perfumes. All this time, however, he sensed that this was only a dream and
that it would not be long before his presence in the public bath would be noticed and he
would be beaten and thrown out. Even so, he continued to enjoy the dream.

As he fell deeper into his reverie, he saw himself being carried to another luxurious
room filled with soft, plush cushions where he was sexually aroused by a sensuous slave
girl. Just as he was about to embrace the girl, he was awakened from his dream by the
laughter of the patrons in the bath who had become highly amused at the sight of this
tumescent beggar. And just as he foresaw, he was beaten and ejected from the premises.

Readers of this story were not only amused by it, they were also able to appreciate the
state of "double consciousness" the beggar found himself in as a result of
taking hashish. in this state, the hashish user hallucinates, but he is also aware that he
is hallucinating - he does not lose complete touch with reality. Hashish causes him to
dream, but it enables him to remain conscious of his dream so that he can appreciate the
images and themes his mind is producing. It was this aspect of the hashish experience that
was later to intrigue European writers, especially the French Romantic authors of the
middle and latter part of the nineteenth century, for in this mysterious drug of the Arab
world they saw untold possibilities of delving into the hitherto buried niches of the
human mind.

The debasing influence of hashish was not the only theme in popular Arab literature.
The ways in which the drug corrupted high officials also delighted audiences and readers.
One such favorite anecdote tells of a hashish "pusher" who was apprehended and
brought to court to appear before a judge presiding over a community that did not permit
the use of hashish. This "pusher" had been fined on many occasions for his
illegal activities, but to no avail. He simply paid his fine and went back to selling his
illegal wares.

Fed up with this unrepentant drug peddler, the judge finally threatened him with a huge
fine if he did not permanently cease his offensive activities. Faced with the threat of an
exorbitant penalty, the "pusher" agreed to find another means of earning a
living. To make sure that there would be no misunderstanding, the judge made the man swear
an oath in which he enumerated all the different names and preparations, many were
completely new to him and he suggested that since the judge knew so much about the subject
he ought to administer the oath to himself as well![12]

A similar story tells of the hypocrisy and quick thinking of a Moslem priest. During a
wild and animated sermon in which he was haranguing his audience on the evils of hashish,
his tunic opened and a bag of the vile drug fell to the ground right before the startled
eyes of the onlookers. Without hesitating an instant, the priest pointed to the bag and
shouted, "This is the demon of which I warned you; the force of my words have put it
to flight, take care that in leaving me, it does not throw itself on one of you and
enslave him." The crowd continued to listen to his sermon, but their eyes were glued
on the hashish. Yet no one dared to pick it up. After the priest finished, the
parishioners dispersed, leaving only the priest and the bag of hashish, which the holy man
promptly picked up and stuffed back into his tunic.[13]

Hashish and the Arab World: Summary

Every culture has some kind of escape hatch, some ersatz respite from the overburdening
realities of everyday existence. For over a thousand years, hashish has been this escape
hatch for a large segment of Arab society.

The earliest groups to use hashish on a large scale were the Sufis, an economically and
socially despised sector of Moslem society, who justified their use of the drug, to
themselves at least, as a way of communicating with their god.

The association of hashish with the Sufis had the effects of identifying it as a
contemptible substance, a drug that sapped a man's energy and his willingness to work, a
drug that made him a pariah rather then a contributor to his community. The lowly social
standing of the poor was attributed to their use of hashish, and the very term
"hashish user" became an insulting epithet for what the upper classes regarded
as the social misfits of their society. Thus, when the Arabs spoke of someone such as
Hasan or his followers as "ashishin" (or Assassins, as the Crusaders pronounced
the word), they were referring to them figuratively and abusively. Whether the Assassins
did or did not use hashish was immaterial.

Nevertheless, it was because of the association of this term with the infamous band of
cutthroats, the resourceful terrorists of the Middle Ages, that many centuries later
hashish gained for itself a reputation as a drug that inspired mayhem.

Curiously, the Arabs themselves have never regarded hashish as a drug which inspires
violence. Perhaps the Arabs are simply too familiar with the actions of hashish to
attribute violence to its seemingly endless list of effects. Yet in America, a country
with a history of violence and little familiarity with cannabis as a mind-altering
substance, hashish was to become known as the "killer drug".